A new priority project for FLA: the Dalton of Thurnham Collection
Following the successful fundraising campaign and the cataloguing of the Horrockses archive, we are delighted that the Friends are keen to support another cataloguing project to make Lancashire's wonderful archive collections more accessible.
We have chosen the Dalton of Thurnham estate collection – DDDA and will use part of Joan Gardner's legacy to the Friends to fund this. The Lancaster area and notable Roman Catholic families were both of great interest to Joan and we believe this is a very appropriate use of her money.
The Dalton archive comprises 82 boxes of archive material of local interest and regional significance, dating from the 12th to the 20th century, which is in great need of proper arrangement and listing.
Keri Nicholson who has carried out a survey of the collection says: 'It is almost impossible to identify any original order within this archive collection. 20th century papers have been boxed indiscriminately with documents from the 1500s and loose parchment documents of title, accounts, receipts and notes appear in no order or context. For the most part it will be necessary to handle, list and assign temporary numbers to individual documents in each of the 82 boxes.' So it's a big job. Essential conservation work and re-packaging will also be carried out as part of the project.
The archive includes estate records up to the 19th century, including Thurnham manor court verdicts dating from the 18thand 19th centuries, and 20th century personal and family papers.
The most historically significant items relate to Cockersand Abbey. They include the original grant of land in Pilling for the construction of the Abbey and a set of illuminated letters patent issued in 1537 by Henry VIII to the Abbot of Cockersand, making the Abbey exempt from the Act of Suppression. Cockersand was the only Abbey in Lancashire to be exempted in this way so there is unlikely to be another document of this kind within our collections.
The vast majority of the Dalton etate land was located in and around Lancaster, giving the potential for a particularly focussed set of deeds which might be used to trace the development of the city from mediaeval times. This may be of particular interest in terms of the former friary lands, as it appears that little is currently known about the site before its development into Dalton Square in the 1780s.
However the documents which perhaps most capture the imagination and have significant potential for future outreach work, are a series of diaries dating from the early-mid 20th century.
Mary Emma Cook's story touches on life on a Texas plantation, the American Civil War and almost 20 years spent in Argentina, while diaries which likely belonged to her daughters describe visits to Paris and New York in the early 1900s, Spain in 1936, around the start of the Spanish Civil War, and the impact of World War 2 on local residents in Thurnham.
We have chosen the Dalton of Thurnham estate collection – DDDA and will use part of Joan Gardner's legacy to the Friends to fund this. The Lancaster area and notable Roman Catholic families were both of great interest to Joan and we believe this is a very appropriate use of her money.
The Dalton archive comprises 82 boxes of archive material of local interest and regional significance, dating from the 12th to the 20th century, which is in great need of proper arrangement and listing.
Keri Nicholson who has carried out a survey of the collection says: 'It is almost impossible to identify any original order within this archive collection. 20th century papers have been boxed indiscriminately with documents from the 1500s and loose parchment documents of title, accounts, receipts and notes appear in no order or context. For the most part it will be necessary to handle, list and assign temporary numbers to individual documents in each of the 82 boxes.' So it's a big job. Essential conservation work and re-packaging will also be carried out as part of the project.
The archive includes estate records up to the 19th century, including Thurnham manor court verdicts dating from the 18thand 19th centuries, and 20th century personal and family papers.
The most historically significant items relate to Cockersand Abbey. They include the original grant of land in Pilling for the construction of the Abbey and a set of illuminated letters patent issued in 1537 by Henry VIII to the Abbot of Cockersand, making the Abbey exempt from the Act of Suppression. Cockersand was the only Abbey in Lancashire to be exempted in this way so there is unlikely to be another document of this kind within our collections.
The vast majority of the Dalton etate land was located in and around Lancaster, giving the potential for a particularly focussed set of deeds which might be used to trace the development of the city from mediaeval times. This may be of particular interest in terms of the former friary lands, as it appears that little is currently known about the site before its development into Dalton Square in the 1780s.
However the documents which perhaps most capture the imagination and have significant potential for future outreach work, are a series of diaries dating from the early-mid 20th century.
Mary Emma Cook's story touches on life on a Texas plantation, the American Civil War and almost 20 years spent in Argentina, while diaries which likely belonged to her daughters describe visits to Paris and New York in the early 1900s, Spain in 1936, around the start of the Spanish Civil War, and the impact of World War 2 on local residents in Thurnham.
